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Neither of the fae responded to that, not that I really expected them to.
So we all just remained where we were sitting, and we waited.
Eventually,Zoran’s water vanished from the entrance, and he ducked beneath the hanging stone ledge. He was dripping wet, but the water vanished from his skin in the blink of an eye, cleaning him up. He’d probably gotten covered in blood and gore again and didn’t want me to notice.
His gaze landed on me immediately, and his eyes swept up and down the length of me a few times before he was satisfied that I was okay.
He signed, “Ready?”
I nodded and stood up, and our companions followed suit.
“I’ll run beside you, now,” I signed back to Zoran.
He shook his head, looking a bit suspicious.
He’d asked me to use my voice, and I had agreed. Honestly, I was only signing to piss him off, since he’d abandoned me without a damn second thought. What if he’d gotten hurt, or died? Hadn’t the bastard ever heard that you weren’t supposed to hike alone? I was fairly confident the same rule applied to fighting in an underground cave system.
When he tried to grab me by the waist, I took a quick step away. My back met the cave’s wall, but I ignored it. “Tie us together,” I signed.
A rope made out of water appeared, wrapping around my back—and then yanking me to Zoran’s chest.
I crashed into him with an “oof,” and he growled at me, gripping me tightly in his arms as he ducked back under the rock and began jogging.
The other fae caught up to him immediately, and though I glared at him, he met my gaze steadily for a moment before focusing on the Aboa around us.
It really did seem lifeless, compared to the way it had been when Heliai was awake.
We passed dozens of sleeping or slow-moving monsters, none of which seemed to pose a threat. Though Zoran gripped me tighter when we passed them, he made no move to attack the monsters that didn’t acknowledge us.
It was surreal to move so easily through the caves that had been so damn horrifying just a few hours earlier.
Exhaustion began slowly weighing all of us down again as time passed. We wove through layer after layer of water and cave, but none of us mentioned stopping for rest.
We had survived what we needed to survive. Now, it was just a matter of getting back in one piece.
It feltlike weeks had gone by when Zoran finally carried us up and out of the Aboa with a massive column of water.
I buried my face against his neck to shield my eyes from the lights in the castle as we emerged, and left it there as he signed something to our companions.
“I want to go home,” I told Zoran quietly, after I heard the other fae leave. He was heading toward his bedroom, I imagined, and I wasn’t ready to curl up in his bed with him. It would bring back memories of the moments we’d spent together before going into the Aboa. Considering that he’d abandoned me when I asked him not to, I wasn’t about to walk myself into any more of those intimate experiences, however incredible they had been.
He squeezed my thigh lightly, twice.
Yes, I’m taking you home.
I didn’t think there was any possible way he would think I was talking about his room like it was my home, so I didn’t feel the need to clarify.
With the castle’s calm, quiet atmosphere, I managed to fall asleep while Zoran carried me. His hands took turns stroking my back lightly, which only made me crash harder.
I woke up when he lowered me to a bed, and made a noise of relief when I realized the bed was mine, in my house.
“See you tomorrow,” I mumbled to Zoran, tugging the straps of my dress down my arms and torso.
His hands caught the fabric at my abdomen, and helped me slide it down and off my body. In my exhausted state, it didn’t even occur to me that he’d only seen me naked once before—or maybe twice? I was shitty at keeping track.
“Thanks.” I slid my legs beneath the blankets on my bed, closing my eyes the rest of the way as I tucked myself in up to my chin.
It could’ve beena minute or an hour later when the mattress dipped beside me.
